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Before you arrive: know the signs of student scams

September is peak season for student fraud. Our Cybersecurity team share tips to protect your money and identity from scams and fraud.

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Everyone starts university in the same few weeks, which means one generic scam message can be sent to an entire year group who are all new. Scammers know when loans and tuition fees land. They know you're new, and they can be very convincing, they often use real names, course details or university branding to trick you into transferring money or sending them sensitive data.

Here's what to watch for in your first few weeks:

  1. Tuition and accommodation fee fraud: Texts, calls or emails claiming fees are overdue, that bank details have changed, or offering to pay your fees at a discount. Queen Mary will never ask for card or bank details by phone, text or email, and will never send new bank details in an email. Pay only through the Queen Mary official payment portal.
  2. Student Loans Company (SLC) scams: Fake messages asking you to "confirm" details so your loan can be processed. The SLC will never ask for your login, password or bank details by email or text. Check your loan by logging in directly to the official SLC site, never through a link in a message.
  3. Easy money offers (money muling): If someone asks to use your bank account to move money and let you keep a cut, that's money laundering. It's a criminal offence and can leave you unable to open an account or get credit for years.
  4. Accommodation scams: Cheap rooms advertised online, deposit demanded up front, viewing always impossible. Never send money for a property you haven't seen.
  5. Freshers' ticket and yearbook scams: Fake event tickets and "sign up for your yearbook" emails that harvest bank details. Queen Mary does not provide a yearbook
  6. Calls about your visa or immigration status: If you're an international student, be especially wary of anyone claiming to be from the Home Office or UKVI demanding payment. Genuine officials never do this. Hang up and contact QM Student Welfare to check.

Rules that will keep you safe

  1. Slow down. Urgency, threats and deadlines are the scammer's main tool: Queen Mary will always let you take your time.
  2. Never share your password or approve an multi-factor authentication (MFA) prompt you didn't trigger.
  3. Verify independently. Hang up, then call back on a number you looked up yourself.

Is this suspicious?

Report the email: Press the ‘Report’ button in your Microsoft Outlook University mailbox

Contact Queen Mary's IT Service Desk straight away - you will never be in trouble for reporting it.

If you've lost money, contact your bank immediately and report it to Report Fraud.

 

 

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